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Monday, May 06, 2013

Feedback on Teaching Material downloads - Is it YOU?

I know, I know... you come to TeachersPayTeachers because you're too BUSY to do everything yourself, and it's a short cut you can take which will only improve your teaching practice rather than harm it. So who has time to leave feedback, right?

Well, you should! Find you what YOU get out of it at the end of my post, but also, it's only courteous to acknowledge the help you get from others. (Finger-wagging chastisement over, I swear.)

Many thanks to Christina who had this cool idea for a link up party. She asked what feedback made us smile on TPT. Most feedback does... even just those simple ones that just say "Thanks!" are better than people downloading (freebies in particular!) and never hearing anything from the hundreds who now have a copy. It does leave me wondering though when people buy something from me and no one takes the time to comment... does it stink? Did I leave something important out of the file? Did they find it too tough? (Admittedly, I *am* a teacher with high expectations!) Honestly, I'd rather hear a little something, even if it's not 100% positive and gushy!

This one made me smile ear-to-ear because Jos76 is a very prolific teacher-author on TPT, with over 1000 items posted for other modern language teachers on that site. I've bought several good things from him over the past few years. If you want to check out how he uses his proceeds from the website to do good, check out his blog. For the record, I don't know him personally or even in the virtual world (as far as I know!)

This feedback on my set of animé style legal-sized write-on, wipe-off posters made me smile because it's exactly the kind of impact many TPT sellers hope to have for their customers. A daily impact! I spent a good deal of time trying to get the appearance of this product just right. In fact, it was the FIRST product for which I bought clip art! I chose something from Dilly Dabbles' store, by the way.

Although there were many other positive comments that I've really enjoyed receiving, I chose to highlight this one as my third:

A little humbling, perhaps... I'm not perfect?!? (JUST kidding!) I like that the comment was clear and specific in how he thought my product was a bit of a let down. I enhanced the material right away to address his very valid concerns. I have no way of knowing if he downloaded the updated version or not, but I sure hope so! (You all should be aware that when you purchase something on TPT, you get free downloads... it's kind of like your own cloud storage... with the added bonus that you'll see a little visual reminder if a teacher-author has edited the file & decided to identify what changes were made.)

So how does this linky party work? If any of the three people whose feedback I selected SEE this post, and contact me through the comments below (need your email address!), by email, or through my contact form on this blog, then I'd be delighted to give each or all three of them a free product of their choice. Easy peasy, right? And of course you already KNEW there was a Teacher Appreciation sale going on at TPT, right? The chance for these three people to win one of my products ends when the TPT sale ends!